The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for skin brown spot removal and collagen formation, by using radio frequency pulses applied to the skin of a patient by a probe.
It is well known that due to the aging process, some unwanted brown spots appears in the skin of the hands and arms. The color of the spots is mainly caused by a production of melanin.
Several methods have been tested in order to reduce the appearance of such spots, with these methods including the application of a laser at various wavelengths.
Some results have been achieved, but no method is at the present time is particularly effective and also does not have unwanted side effects.
When laser light reaches the skin, its intensity decreases exponentially in the skin. This means that the thermal energy that is delivered is higher in the first layer of the skin, and decreases exponentially as it penetrates lower into the lower layers of the skin. Moreover, the first corneum stratus (an upper skin layer) has a higher absorption than other portions of the skin. Such an energy profile is not suitable for uniform heating of a volume of skin due to the fact that in the superficial layers the reached temperature is too high and in other layers the temperature is not enough in order to trigger the desired brown spot reduction process.
It is well known that an alternating voltage applied to a conductor generates a current on the external layer of the conductor, and the depth of current flow depends on the frequency and the resistance of the conductor (skin effect).
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a treatment method of heating a portion of skin using radio frequency current pulses.
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a treatment method for the removal of unwanted brown spots on the skin and regeneration of the collagen.
According to the present invention, a heating triggers the decomposition of the melanin and induces a mild thermal injury to the collagen at a lower energy level than what is used to remove brown spots from the skin.
The present invention uses a pulsed radio frequency generator connected to a special probe for the coupling to the skin, and a water based substance for the enhancement of the effects. Such a combination is able to generate a controlled heating of a selected portion of the skin of a depth of 800 microns so that is possible to reach a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius, which triggers the decoloration of the melanin in the brown spots. At a lower temperature, such as 70 degrees Celsius, the effect is the injury of the collagen, thus inducing its regeneration. At this lower temperature, the melanin is not affected.
The method includes:
1) The application of radio frequency pulses at a frequency of 27 MHz on the skin over an area equal or less than 1 square centimeter for a time of less than 0.5 second and a power of less than 100 W.
2) An apparatus which includes the following to perform the preceding treatment:
a) A radio frequency generator functioning in pulsed mode with powers and wavelengths in the ranges previously specified;
b) a probe for applying the radio frequency current which permits concentration of heating in the selected volume of the skin;
c) an impedance transformer in order to adapt the high impedance of the skin to the low impedance of the radio frequency generator.
3) The application on the skin of a water-based gel in order to decrease the impedance of the first layer of the skin and at the same time carry during the treatment additional substance that are usually employed for decreasing the appearance of the brown spots, such as cogic acid.